ROBIN ROOSTS. 175 
tain wooded hill, whence they took a final 
flight to their nightly haven, perhaps a quar- 
ter of a mile beyond. Farther down the 
valley, a mile or more from the roost, birds 
were to be seen flying toward it, but I found 
no place at which a general movement could 
be observed and large numbers counted. 
As'to the size of these nightly gatherings, 
it seems wisest not to guess; though, treat- 
ing the subject in this narrative manner, I 
have not scrupled to mention, simply as a 
part of the story, some of my temporary sur- 
mises. What I am told of the Belmont 
wood is true also of the one in Melrose: its 
shape and situation are such as to make an 
accurate census impossible, no matter how 
many “enumerators” might be employed. 
It could be surrounded easily enough, but it 
would be out of the question to divide the 
space among the different men so that no 
two of them should count the same birds. 
At present it can only be said that the rob- 
ins are numbered by thousands; in some 
cases, perhaps, by tens of thousands. 
